The future of Apex Park is in the spotlight as Sedgemoor District Councillors debate whether to hive off a section to a developer.

The district council own the 42 acre public park and have looked into leasing the existing BMW track to Bourne leisure for holiday homes and thus robbing the residents of a chunk of their amenity.

A debate has raged over the future of the BMX site with the town council calling for it to remain as part of the park and numerous members of the public voicing their concerns Sedgemoor District Council who own the land have been conducting a public consultation.

Sedgemoor said the consultation included three drop-in sessions at Apex Park alongside a freely available online questionnaire. In a statement they said: “A member of Sedgemoor District Council staff has since attended Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge Town Council to update Councillors and discuss the project. The Town Council have considered the matter and sent a response to Sedgemoor District Council following their Council meeting on October 5.”

The district council said the results of the consultation have now been analysed in detail, with more than 170 responses were received. A full report will go before Sedgemoor District Council’s Executive on December 9.

Today the trees line the edges of the lakes and the entire area has the look of a mature park passed from generation to generation. However it was not always thus. Photographs have emerged that show the park very differently in the 1970s.

Local historian and author of the Book of Burnham-on-Sea Robert R Thomas said the park has only taken on its current look in recent decades.

“The area was clay pits,” he said, “and the lakes were formed out the earth that had been scooped out. In 1969 the council acquired the site from Colthursts, Symons and Company brick and tile works. The site then became Apex Leisure Park. The prime reasons for this acquisition was the control of the lakes to provide an area where local surface water could go when the height of the tide prevented it from draining straight into the river.”

Alongside the park runs Marine Drive built on the former Somerset and Dorset railway line connecting Burnham to Highbridge closed in 1963. Many of the houses along its route didn’t appear until 1980 when it opened or in the late 1970s. The views in the photographs provide a very different feel with wide open grassy areas and very few trees and bushes compared to today.

Do you recall those early days of the park? We’d love to hear from you especially if you’ve pictures of family outings back in the 1970s and 1980s when Apex Park really was a different place.